This is a book of biographies of 23 European women who were among the earliest arrivals in Colonial America. They came to found their homes in a wilderness or to carry out the work of their religious denomination. Most never got to return to visit their childhood homes or relatives, performing hard work daily the rest of their lives.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney and others came looking for financial gain; some such as Ann Lee came to escape religious persecution; a few such as Margaret Brent came looking for adventure. Also profiled in this book are Priscilla Mullins Alden, Alice Carpenter S. Bradford, Margaret Tyndal Winthrop, Anne Marbury Hutchinson, Mary Barrett Dyer, Lady Deborah Dunch Moody, Penelope Van Princis Stout, Lady Frances Culpeper Berkeley, Margaret Hardenbroeck Philipse, Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, Henrietta Deering Johnston, Susanna Wright, Sister Marie Madeleine Hachard, Elizabeth Timothy, Elizabeth Murray Smith, Margarethe Bechtel Jungmann, Mary Barnard Williams, Mary White Rowlandson, Jane Randolph Jefferson, and Anne Dudley Bradstreet.